L Rogues Darkstalkers: Vampire Savior
by Louis the Rogue
Summary: Pt 3. Reborn from the blood on the hands of Makai, the Dark Messiah has returned to unite all souls. Can you feel 'his' voice calling from the bottom of the darkness? Currently rated T for violence, language, disturbing images, and adult themes.
1. The Revenge of Demitri Maximoff

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter One: The Revenge of Demitri Maximoff

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

The courtyard of Taurus Drey was unlike anything else in his collection; it was peaceful, simplistic, and of little material value. Reminiscent of an early Greek design, the marble fountain in the center and the sidewalk tile-wide marble walkway that lined the edges just past the high stone walls were the only things in it aside from pure, pristine grass. For this reason, Lord Funechika would always insist on this spot to share luncheon during his weekly visit to Castle Drey.

As he sat his squat, gnome-like body on the grass before the red and gold checkered blanket that held a small feast and separated him from his long-time ally, Lord Drey had to admit that he was grateful for the reprieve. Since the war began, Funechika had less and less time for these informal discussions of theirs.

"So, tell me Ed, what have you heard about Maximoff?", the blue-eyed nobleman inquired absently as he brushed a bit of his curly red hair off his emerald, tailed jacket.

Lord Funechika gripped a violet teacup with his long, slender brown fingers, and drew it to his shriveled little face for a sip before he answered, "The worst, I'm afraid. His assault draws nearer to our borders every moment. It seems that…"

As he paused, Drey leaned in eagerly, "Go on!"

Funechika almost winced with the weight of his knowledge, "It seems that House Kreutz has finally fallen. At the time I received the message, Maximoff was reportedly engaging Xell Kreutz himself. Without the Wolf Lord to guard his back, it can be assumed that he will barely be a match for the infamous tyrant's newfound strength, if at all."

"This is terrible news", Drey sighed. He detested sober moments.

Nodding gravely, Funechika took something from his burgundy robe resembling a small, golden timepiece and handed it to Drey across the blanket, "You know what this is, and I suggest you use it at the next opportunity. I'll be leaving as well."

Taurus was taken aback, "You expect me to leave my clan and collection behind?"

"Even a collection as extensive as this can be replaced. A life, I fear…"

"_Fear?"_, a voice taunted from the darkness, "There is nothing to fear in death but the dying!"

"It's _him_", Drey noted in a hushed tone as he looked to his friend, "Should we try to bargain with the monster? Could our lives be spared that way? Ed?"

He drew back in shock as he took in the blank, lifeless stare that now occupied the face of Ed Funechika. And then, nigh instantaneously, the stilled nobleman's body collapsed like shattered glass into a pile of blood and organs.

Screaming like a madman, Taurus leapt from the ground and turned to flee. His journey was cut alarmingly short, however, as he slammed face-first into what seemed to be an immovable object from his viewpoint.

As the hapless Drey gathered his wits enough to look up, he groaned miserably at the figure before him. Tall and statuesque, the thing was shadowed by an aura of menacing flames about its' person and two hateful crimson eyes glowered out from the face.

Worst of all, by far, was the way its' elongated fangs seemed to promise eternal damnation even as the mouth opened to speak, "I must apologize for the imprecise scheduling of your demise, Lord Drey, but you _have_ had a century to prepare."

"No no!", Taurus pleaded, "There must be another way! My collection? It could be yours! I could be signed on to procure even more artifacts for your greatness when YOU rule The Makai? Does that strike your fancy, Lord Maximoff?"

"You miss the point", the brooding figure bellowed over him, extending a fearsome, clawed hand to grip the tiny creature by the face and lift him in the air, struggling and all, "My conquest is secondary only to my vengeance. The nobility must be made to suffer, as I have suffered. Blood for blood is the only way my pain can ever be reprised."

"Please! I beg you to reconsider! Demitri!", Lord Drey screamed in vain, choking on his own blood as his plump little head imploded under the weight of the tyrant's gripping fist.

Dropping the remains of his latest victim, Demitri Maximoff looked to the bloody sky, "Only one can be spared. _Morrigan_, you will submit to me soon enough."

* * *

Striding up the golden steps that lead to the splendor of Castle Aensland, Morrigan found herself confronted with no small army of vampiric soldiers, each decorated in a sapphire-hued armor of Roman design.

At the forefront, a violet cape adorning the back of his armor to identify him as the leader, stood a seemingly elderly vampire, his long white hair in a soldier's braid and his formerly fine-trimmed goatee having grown into a full beard.

"Stand down men", the vampiric gentleman called as he drew his basket-hilted rapier, a pair of faded gray wings unfurling from his back, "Lady Aensland is my responsibility."

Her agile form sliding into a fighting stance, Morrigan locked eyes with the general, "Chivalry is rare among you Maximoff dogs, and yet, you bar me from my castle."

"To think, the future Queen of Makai is but an arrogant whelp!", the old man rebuked, "Alas, but I would never second guess Milord."

"Never?", a melodious voice rang from behind the elderly vampire, freezing him in his tracks, "Those who lose their pride lose also their right to live. Someone very wise told me this once."

As the vampire general turned to strike, his shimmering blade met another with the intensity of a crimson flame. Wielding the strange sword was a flawless man in Florentine armor. Recognizing him instantly, the elderly soldier's eyes turned red with malice, "Hartland, you fool!"

Morrigan relaxed her pose, a sour look on her face, "Your interference was hardly necessary on this matter, Milord"

"I must disagree", the nobleman smiled with a charming confidence about him, "As a gentleman, I cannot allow you to stain your hands on an enemy so far beneath you."

As his opponent took to the sky, diving down in a bird-like strike, Hartland turned on his heel and parried with such velocity that it stirred a sudden, whistling wind through the air.

Gripping hold of his hilt with both hands, the general struggled downward with all his might, not simply to break the parry, but to break his opponent's resolve.

However, as he looked over Hartland's flawless stance, both legs bent just enough to support the weight of the defense as his free hand administered a perfect balance to the whole of his body, the gentleman realized to his chagrin that he was woefully outclassed.

"Kill me quickly", the old man muttered as his sword dropped from his hand.

"It shall be done, Dear Sir", Hartland nodded, never taking his gaze from his opponent's face as he swiftly struck him through the heart, pulling back with such alarming speed that it made the combination of attack and retreat seem like the sting of a massive bee.

Silently, Demitri Maximoff's former right hand dropped to the floor, his blood spilling over the stairs like a red carpet. His face was a mixture of defeat and resolve; he had died in service to his master, and yet, with the knowledge of his futility.

* * *

Hartland at her side, Morrigan began the slow journey through her former home. The once rich red tapestries were torn, the golden carpets scattered. Paintings and other priceless effects were irreversibly damaged, and the smell of death permeated the air.

As her eyes fell over the remains of what had once been a loyal servant, Morrigan stopped, the spark seeming to go out of her perfect eyes.

Sensing her plight, Gregorio Hartland dared to lay a hand on her shoulder as he spoke, "Much has changed in the last nine years, Milady."

Abruptly starting forward, Morrigan continued down the hallway without a response.

Down toward her father's chambers. The throne of the dead king Belial. The one place she knew _he_ would be. She could feel his dark presence stifling the air around her.

Throwing open the golden double doors, she stepped inside, virtually unfazed at the sight of Demitri sitting atop her beloved father's throne.

"It suits me well, Belial's throne", Demitri mused across the red and gold rug to her.

"Your arrogance supersedes what would otherwise be your power", Morrigan glowered to him, "Must I humble you once more, little tyrant?"

"You dare to think so lightly of me?", Maximoff roared, his form shifting into a bat-like creature even as he leapt from the throne, the transformation complete by the time the two warriors locked arms in a grapple.

Much as one might expect in a battle between opponents so skilled, neither let the force of their power tear into the land around them; to do so would simply have wasted their much-needed strength. They remained locked in a stalemate, each glaring hotly into the others' eyes. Only the circumstances of their situation could define the true nature of the looks they gave one another; today, they were soldiers, and there was only the battle.

However, focused as she was, the elusive rage that now clouded Morrigan's normally subtle demeanor had also begun to cloud her judgment. Her father had been everything. With his passing, she was to be the next candidate for Ruler of Makai. She had never wanted such responsibility, but now, seeing this tyrannical demon among demons desecrating her home for the very same title, she swore to herself that no man would ever _take_ her birthright away from her.

Somehow, as she had become lost in her thoughts, she had also become lost in those eyes of his. They were always so intense. In spite of the borderline hate that boiled inside of her at this moment, she also felt a strange compassion for this fell, proud creature that resembled affection. Were the two really so different?

She would pursue the thought no farther. At that moment, Demitri noted her momentary lapse in focus and used the opportunity to pin her by the neck. As her body slammed into the stone floor with enough force to split it in two, she instinctively tried to scream out, but her throat could barely manage a hiss.

"Morrigan!", Hartland screamed, drawing his rapier in an instant and leaping above the monstrous Demitri in another, a hellish rage boiling in his eyes.

"Gregorio…", Morrigan whispered. Even as her eyes took in the scene, the massive claw that slashed the noble warrior to ribbons with a single horrific blow, there was a subtle respect in her tone that needed no further eulogy to fully honor his proud death.

* * *

His wiry blonde hair loose about the frame of his skull-like face, Emperor Ozomu brooded silently in the darkness of his throne room. The past nine years had been increasingly trying as his strategy had not-so-slowly shifted from a passive offensive to a full and desperate defense. Maximoff was stronger, of this there was no doubt, and that very strength would be his undoing unless…

"Ozomu", a strange, yet familiar voice called from the darkness, interrupting his thoughts.

"Who's there?", Ozomu called to nowhere. _He knew that voice_.

"Ozomu…", an icy hand rested on his shoulder, "I am sorry, but please lend me your powers."

The ever-composed Emperor of Dohma froze with terror.

"Your soul would become the foundation of Majigen…", the voice of his former master trailed from soft blue lips into Ozomu's trembling skull even as his body began to slowly fade from this world, "and will help the future of Makai."


	2. All Souls As One

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Two: All Souls As One

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

A crimson sunset fell over the sapphire sea. Beneath the waves, the emerald-scaled emperor of a fallen people weaved as delicately as a snake. His stormy blue eyes searched frantically, his face wrenched in the concerned expression that only a parent could understand, "Alba! Alba, where are you!-?"

Even with his keen eyesight, Aulbath found himself struggling to navigate the murky depths. He had traversed this territory a thousand times, and yet today it was strangely unfamiliar. In addition to the unsettling shadows around him, there was a violent chill to the increasingly strong current that seemed to slash right through him.

"Alba! My son! Alba, can you hear me?" He seemed to be calling in vain to the empty void, but he refused to give up hope. Even as the darkness swallowed him, he would see with his heart. Even as the current constricted his body, his will would sustain him. Even as the water became as air and he ceased all buoyancy…

The painful crash into a bed of coral brought him to his senses. As he slowly rose to his feet, he was stunned at the sparkling blue sea that was more like a sky above the faded amethyst landscape on which he stood, seemingly lit by a golden light on the horizon.

As he stood there in awe, taking in his new surroundings, a voice seemed to call across the waves in a gentle whisper, "_All souls return to one…_"

* * *

A stiff gale swept a small stream of leaves and grime over the stairs of the Sorbonne, the wild wind echoing through its' high walls as the fiery clouds gathered above.

A brown satchel clung to her side, a fair young brunette with deep blue eyes tore from a doorway, her burgundy button-up dress and golden yellow scarf blowing harshly about her as she struggled into the parking lot to look up at the sky.

From the half-shattered windows of the university, students looked on in terror, expecting her to be swept away by the storm any moment. However, they could not hear the voice that echoed in her mind.

"I can feel you, old friend…", the young woman smiled absently, closing her eyes. Dropping the satchel, she lifted her arms, seemingly at peace as the wind took her away.

"These last nine years have been happy ones for me", she thought to herself as her body drifted through the brown-tainted vortex, "How have _you_ fared?"

* * *

In bullets and flashes, a battle rained down on the streets of Cairo. Anakaris, the mummy pharaoh, briefly appeared above a suddenly skidding blue car, a red-hooded figure slashing for his throat, and then randomly vanished again.

Appearing on a rooftop, Anakaris batted toward the steamy air with his large hand, missing the figure appearing just under his grip before it uppercutted him in a flash.

Thrown onto his back, Anakaris started back into a stand, but halted at the click of a gun. "Don't move, _darkstalker_, or I promise I'll make this hurt.", a young woman's voice threatened from beneath the hood, the black uzi in her hand aimed for his faceplate.

Violently awakened to his own ineptitude in this battle, Anakaris exhaled, "Very well. And what now, darkhunter?"

Throwing back her hood, the figure revealed herself. An adorable blonde with baby blue eyes and fair skin that, were it not for the firearm held firmly in her right hand and the vicious smile on her face, could have passed for an innocent beauty.

Closing one eye, the horrible smile on the girl's face widened, "Well, I never promised I wouldn't make it hurt anyway, now did I?" With that, she pulled the trigger, and with an unceremonious thud, the mummy pharaoh fell in a lifeless heap.

Lifting the gun barrel to her lips and blowing cockily, the girl hunter stared down at the golden wristwatch on her free arm, "Only five minutes. The Egyptian government must have really been stretched thin to hire me for a milk run like thi…!"

Without warning, a sudden blast of air knocked her off her feet. As the howling darkness overcame the world around, Bulleta closed her eyes, clinging to a picnic basket, a beige terrier yapping from the inside.

Then, just as quickly as it had come, the darkness left. Bulleta stood, the little dog jumping out of her basket and perking his ears to a sudden change in temperature. She was now surrounded by an endless, barren waste, the sky above dancing in shades of crimson.

Looking to her canine companion, the hunter smiled, "Feel that, Harry? They're everywhere."

Harry barking excitedly at her heels, Bulleta strode boldly into the unknown, "Haha, they're all mine. It's been a long time since a job this big."

* * *

Standing across from one another on the mountain peak, two rivals readied for a final, bitter battle, the stormy blue sky crackling with thunder like the drums of war.

"It ends here, demon.", Oboro glared, gripping his staff and taking his stance.

"Only for you, foolish warrior", Bishamon grinned, his red eyes glowing with malicious intent as he unsheathed his bloody blade.

With a dual roar, the fated pair glided across the rocky plane toward one another. Their eyes locked in a tunneled gaze, even as their hands instinctively took aim. Each aiming for that final, killing blow.

Only fate could have stepped in the way of such a battle. As a flash of lightning came between them, samurai and demon alike mechanically struck out, and darkness took the place of light in that instant.

As light returned to the world, the sky had taken a red tint in place of the blue, and Oboro found himself alone on the mountaintop, still frozen in that perfect pose.

"Hannya!", he shouted to nowhere, "You cannot escape me so easily! I would track you into Hell and bind us both to its' unending flame to rid you from the world."

Little did the noble warrior realize, as he began his journey across the seemingly unchanged mountainside, that he would soon be making good on his vow.

* * *

Bounding through the foggy London alleyways, Felicia blearily turned a corner and skidded into a brick wall like a disoriented kitten. Pulling herself to her feet with a groan, Felicia tried her best to shake off the screaming and crashing noises all around her.

"Why", she gasped the question, a hand to her forehead as she stumbled forward again, "Why all the suffering and pain? Why can't people just be…"

As the fog around her seemed to turn the color of blood, she felt herself losing conciousness.

"Just be happy…"

* * *

Two twin girls hurried through the woods, more and more light creeping through the canopy as the trees around them were ripped from their roots.

As they looked behind at the approaching storm, a thing like a wall of smoke, their little faces turned white with terror.

"Lin-Lin!", one of the girls screamed as her sister was swept off her feet and into the mighty cloud of darkness, "Lin-Lin, I'm coming! Hold on!"

Throwing herself in after, Lei-Lei shivered as a chill ran through her entire body.

After what seemed like an eternity, the storm subsided, dropping the girls to the ground. Slowly rising, they gasped in shock at one another, barely recognizing the entity before them. Lei-Lei's skin had turned an icy blue, while Lin-Lin's was an alabaster white, and both were strangely dressed.

"Sister", Lin-Lin felt the tears welling up in her eyes, "What do we do now?"

"Well, we can't go back now", Lei-Lei noted, motioning to the barren landscape around them, "So we have to just keep moving forward."

"Forward", Lin-Lin nodded, "Until we're home again."

"Yeah", Lei-Lei smiled, hugging her sister close, "We'll be home soon I hope."

Unfortunately, their nightmarish journey had only begun.

* * *

"Keep… running… just… keep…"

A tangled mat of blue and red fell forward in the grass. The beast that had once been a great man had heard the voice in his head for over an hour.

"All souls as one… what does it mean…", Talbain asked himself with a growl, his attempt to move forward in vain as his broken body rejected his will.

Just as he was about to finally resign himself to death's cold embrace, the wolf's sharp ears perked to a sound he somehow recognized. A distant, unearthly howling that shot into the core of his being.

"_You_", he struggled to his feet, "I'm coming… Father."

* * *

Castle Dohma hung silently in the chilling red sky, its' skeletal towers connected to the outer landscape by naught but a single worn rope bridge.

Dashing across that very bridge, with all the recklessness of a madman, Zabel's chainsaw arm seemed to be laughing in short, excited bursts with the rest of him.

"I'm here, _Master_!", he screamed gleefully into the castle as he kicked open the door, "I can feel you weakening! Time to pass the torch, you old fart!"

A breeze whistled across the dark, empty hall. Zabel dropped his shoulders, the buzzing of his saw subsiding as it fell from his arm and reformed as the bizarre Le Marta. Tilting his bony face to the side like an owl at the sight, or lack thereof, of the bricks of the castle stopping abruptly in a total void just ahead, Zabel looked puzzled, "What 'ave we 'ere?"

"Interesting!", he mused as a voice called from the darkness, "An enemy more worthy of death than Ozomu! Let's go, Marta! I'll kill anybody that tries to stop me!"

The little blob monster clinging to the back of his bony leg, Zabel ran headlong into the void, cackling madly as the smell of blood filled his nostrils.

* * *

"And now", Demitri turned from the crimson cloud that had been Lord Hartland to face his real prize, "Where were we?"

As the diabolical warlord raised his clawed hand toward Morrigan's struggling body, a sudden earthquake began ripping at the castle around them.

Leaping from his pinned victim with a roar, Demitri took to the air, soon enveloped in a blackness that swallowed the sky.

Holding her neck as she stood, Morrigan gazed out into the darkness just beyond the ruined walls of her father's castle.

"Where is this place", she wondered aloud, "and why have I been brought here…?"


	3. Avatars

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Three: Avatars

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

Amidst the desolate gray wastes of Dohma Territory, one would hardly believe a place as beautiful as the Forest of Souls could exist. Emerald-colored, wide-leafed trees stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see along the rich brown soil, seemingly nourished by a mysterious golden light that permeated the very air.

It was here that the race of soul bees made their great treetop cities of bark, stone, and leaves. The soul bees, impressive humanoids that stood about the height of a man, but with far more slender frames, were decidedly insect-like upon closer inspection; segmented wings, a stinger-like protrusion from the backside, and antennae amidst their hair marked them as well-deserving of their namesake.

More insect-like than the soul bees' appearance, perhaps, was their society. The soul bees were ruled by their sovereign Q-Bee, the remaining soldiers and workers being known as P-Bees and Bees, respectively. All worked for the good of the hive, individualism being an alien trait to the race as a whole.

As all decisions ultimately fell in the hands of the Q-Bee, hers was an enormous burden to bear. And yet, as each new ruler ate her way out of the shell that had been her mother, she was already privy to the knowledge of all her predecessors.

Sadly, in the century since the untimely demise of Archlord Jedah, the lands of Dohma, and consequently the Forest of Souls, had fallen into hard times. The once lush trees now wilted, a tarnished marble color. The once rich soil had become gray and brittle. The once beautiful golden mists would reflect off the wings of the busy soul bees no longer, replaced by a gloomy fog.

Worse still for the tragic race, whose only goal was the continued expansion of the hive, the death of the forest meant the end of all life in general. The honey sweet souls, which they used as everything from food to shelter, had steadily begun to vanish.

Her now woefully overpopulated race on the brink of certain doom, Q-Bee sat for long hours alone in her golden throne room, scratching her pale little hands through her tussled lavender hair as she attempted to solve the mystery of survival.

It was on what seemed to her another long afternoon of increasingly futile contemplation that a voice rang out like a bell in her mind, _"All souls return to one…"_

Opening her beady amethyst eyes, the matriarch smiled with a buzz, "Of course! What a marvelously simple idea. I must go then, and gather the souls for the good of the hive!"

Preceded by the droning hum of her wings, Q-Bee took to the skies, the wind at her back to carry her headlong into the great dark storm just on the horizon.

* * *

In the darkness, all is calm. There can be nothing but emptiness inside a void.

"Why am I so anxious?", a voice called to itself amidst the darkness, looking upon its slender, pale, feminine body for the first time, "And why have I taken this form…?"

"_This body represents your hearts' desire_", a soothing voice called from the darkness beyond, "_Does it not please you?_"

Peering into the darkness with her large, red-irised eyes, a sudden breeze whipping through her neck-length, lavender hair, the entity caught sight of a figure within the darkness.

It was very tall, or maybe everyone was that tall and she was especially short; she didn't know. The build of the creature, mostly hidden in gray shadows, was angular, with large hands and shoulders; significantly different from her small, subtle curves. They both had wings though, and this similarity brought a smile to her pale lips.

"It's not that", she muttered with a thoughtful look, "Just…"

"_You thought you would look like **her**?"_, the voice in darkness mused.

"Yes", the girl smiled with a blush, "I suppose I did… Silly, huh?"

"_Not at all_", the voice continued, "_You two should never have been separated. Being apart from oneself is all wrong, don't you agree?_"

The girl looked askance, nodding slowly, "Very much so. If you could give me a body, could you maybe…"

"_Take you to her?"_

She looked up, "Yes! Please take me to her. I want to go home."

Silently, like a shadow in a dream, the subtly shadowed personage walked out of the darkness, his features becoming more apparent. Lighter grays gave way to ice blue skin and a handsome face framed with long blonde hair. Darker grays became a long, indigo coat that covered his body from neck to knee, a pair of matching breeches and boots covering the distance between there and his toes, and the whole thing being held together with large, gold buttons. On his well-defined shoulders, a pair of militant red patches marked the coat with a strikingly noble character.

As the man leaned down, his moon-colored eyes staring into hers, the girl noted that, while his wings sprouted from his sides and head just like hers, his were more like blades, "_Yes, Lilith. I will take you to her. You will be one, and then be one with the new Makai. But you must do something for me in return."_

The girl, Lilith, stared longingly into those eyes, a glimmer of hope in her own for the very first time, "I would do _anything_ to go home."

"All you must do is help me gather the worthy souls, and your true self will surely be among them. Once you have found her, you two will be one. I promise you this. Now, take my hand, dear child, and we can be on our way."

With a smile, Lilith gripped tightly to the arm of her new companion, barely noticing the blue leggings and red corset that appeared over her body as she skipped off through the darkness by his side.


	4. Devil's World

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Four: Devil's World

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

Treading the ground before him to its conclusion, Aulbath found himself standing atop a coral cliff overlooking an endless forest with trees of the purest, shining gold.

"A peculiar, yet marvelous world", he remarked aloud.

A sudden crashing in the forest brought his senses into sharp focus. With a series of agile leaps, he cleared the cliffside and bounded across the canopy of the forest, eyes flitting to the ground below in a lightning quick sweep, "_I know that sound. Those breaths…_"

Somewhere in the golden forest, a mighty white ape thrashed about with all his might, leveling trees left and right with ponderous thrusts, "Where am I!-? Where are my people!-? If somebody doesn't give me an answer, I'll make them talk!"

Springing from the cover of trees above, a keen expression on his face, the noble merman tackled his old friend, quickly subduing him with a sudden spray of violet gas from his gills.

As Quatos lagged, thrown into a brief but violent coughing fit, Aulbath waited with crossed arms for the effects to subside.

Slowly rising to his feet, Quatos turned to his attacker with a roar, but stopped short of his ally's self-assured grin and guffawed instead, "Fancy meeting you here, Scales."

"And you, Furry One", Aulbath acknowledged with a nod, "But where is here?"

"Damn good question", Quatos roared, scratching behind his ear with one of his huge fingers, "And what's with all this 'all souls as one' stuff while we're at it!"

"Obviously, the voice of our captor has spoken", Aulbath retorted with a tone of mild impatience, "And it is by this entity's design that we have arrived here. If we can locate the enigmatic 'collector of souls', we may be able to escape."

"Works for me", the simian behemoth shrugged.

Aulbath nodded decisively and started off through the forest, Quatos in tow, "Then let us make haste, my friend. With every second we waste, my Alba's chances of survival grow increasingly thin..."

As the duo disappeared behind the cover of the trees, they never detected the glint of two beady, amethyst eyes staring hungrily at them from behind a bush.

* * *

As the young woman in the burgundy dress struggled across the barren red desert, the fierce winds whipped her scarf about her face, nearly taking the breath out of her several times.

"I can feel you", she muttered into the wind, "Why so sad? Have you finally lost your battle with the darkness? Please, I… I don't want to have to do that."

Her mind was far away now, and as the wind stopped dead, she awoke to find herself standing before the Sorbonne on a memorable sunset that ended nine years ago.

On the steps, before her eyes, a pig-tailed girl in a faded blue dress stood looking up at her companion, her little round face solemn for the first time since he had returned from his epic struggle. A struggle he had fought and won just for her.

He was tall, and dark, and strong. Just the way she remembered him. He looked so sad that day; she knew why now. Seeing her pain at losing him had broken his heart.

As the man that had brought happiness back into her heart turned to leave her with nothing but the money for her education and a second chance, the words he spoke would burn themselves into her memory every day that followed, "Take heart, Anita. Your battle is over for now. But promise me this; if ever we meet again, and I have given up the fight, show me the mercy of a quick death. This last task, I may entrust to you."

And then, just as quickly as it had left, the wind picked up again, washing away the world around and leaving only the harsh desert. But now something new appeared in the wind. The rough figure of a man in a blue and white robe, his face dominated in shadow by a metallic traveling hat, stood silently before her, leaned upon a walking staff.

"Friend or foe?", Anita shouted into the darkness.

Lifting his hat just enough to see the girl before him, Oboro gripped his staff tightly with both hands, "I sense the taint within you. Do you serve The Dark?"

"I seek a man who has dedicated his life to destroying The Dark", Anita returned.

Oboro nodded gravely, "You have found one."

* * *

Bulleta snaked through the abandoned ruins of a village like a shadow in the night. She wasn't sure when the wastes had ended and the village had begun, but that didn't matter. There was only the hunt now, and her hunter's intuition told her that prey was nearby.

"You think they'll put up much of a fight, Harry?", she grinned impishly as she ducked behind a corner and cocked her revolver.

Peeking out of the picnic basket looped over her forearm, Harry tilted his head up at her and made a muffled but expressively puzzled yap.

Bulleta sighed apathetically in response, "You're probably right, but I can dream…"

At that moment, the wall beside her burst forward with the force of an explosion. Had she not nimbly dodged to the side, the girl would have been buried in the rubble.

Taking a few instinctive pot shots at the source of the blast, Bulleta pulled herself to her feet with a glare, "Whoever did that is _so_ dead…"

"Then kill me, if you can", a low voice rumbled from inside the shadows of the building. Lumbering forward, Victor returned her glare with a stalwart grimace, "But I will not stop until Emily is whole again."

* * *

As she stumbled through the fog once more, moving by strength of will alone, Felicia started to make out shapes in the haze. Hapless and hopeless, the faded figures reminded her of the poverty-stricken neighborhood where she had grown up.

It occurred to her, as she briefly studied the area, that these were the same cracked buildings as back then. Even the air smelled the same. She was _home_.

"Rose?", she mewed to nowhere, moving forward with a sudden vigor "Are you here again too? Rose, I'm coming home… Don't you worry, I'm coming home…"

"_Home_", a little voice called her to her senses, her heart wrenching as she listened to it sobbing in the darkness.

Peering into a corner, Felicia caught sight of a lavender-haired little girl in a red corset sitting amongst the garbage.

The girl looked up at her pitifully with those big, red eyes of hers, "I want to go home."

* * *

"Wa's all this!-?", Zabel fumed as he pushed his way through a sea of wooden doll parts hanging from the ceiling of the disturbingly dim-lit place he had found himself.

As he clung to his volatile companion's leg, Le Marta studied the room around. He recognized this place, and that realization brought a shiver down his spine.

An image of Ozomu suddenly flashing in his mind, Zabel looked down at Marta with a sadistic grin, "Y'think? I hope so! He's so dead when I find 'im…"

"These dolls", he wondered aloud, "Why-for do they smell so familiar…?"

"You haven't forgotten me, have you Zabel?", a voice called menacingly from seemingly everywhere, putting the ghoul assassin instantly on guard. He tried his best not to show it, but the voice in the shadows had struck a nerve.

"Mary?", he quivered in spite of himself, "_That you love_?"

"What a smart boy!", the voice snapped, the disembodied limbs around Zabel springing to life and leaping from their wires to converge into the shape of his erstwhile mentor. Only now her once-distinguished voice echoed with the filter of another, more masculine tone, and her eyes were as black as two voids.

It was her expression, however, that unnerved him the most. No longer the collected, coldly sadistic face he had grown to respect and fear, Marionette's expression was dominated by the frenzied smile of a zealot.

"Die Zabel!", she screamed, raising a bloody knife from her side, "Die for the New Makai!"


	5. Bleeding Hearts, Burning Blood

-1DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Five: Bleeding Hearts, Burning Blood

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

The light rippled in waves across the air over the sounds of the fountain-like spring where Aulbath and Quatos had stopped to rest after an eternity of running to nowhere.

"Ahhhh, much better", Quatos sighed as he dunked his large furry face in the water, "My feet were killing me!"

"I remember a time when you could run twice that far without complaining", Aulbath grinned as he sat atop a ruined statue of seemingly Greek design.

"Nobody lives forever, Scales", the great white yeti threw back at him as he plopped down on the ground with a ponderous thud.

"That is true", the merman paused in thought as his gaze fell to the horizon, "The years gone by since I met Aqueria have been the happiest years of my life, but I often wonder if I am getting old before my time. If I died, who would care for my family? My Alba…"

"We're not going to die yet", Quatos said firmly, his furrow brows creasing in a serious expression, "Not here. Let's worry about finding your boy and cross the barrier to the other side when we get there."

Smiling to his old friend, Aulbath nodded, "I needed that. My thanks."

But before the gentle giant could respond, a sudden sound forced both warriors into a defensive stand. It began as a distant buzzing, then got louder, and louder, until at last Aulbath crumpled in pain at the sheer magnitude of sound generated by the countless bees forming a great, dark cloud above them.

Atop them all, a muted gray Q-Bee smiled and licked her lips, "Dinner time!"

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As Anita awoke from what felt like a dream, she coughed on the harsh desert air. She barely remembered losing consciousness from the strain of the long journey, but she did remember the specter now sitting across from her by a bonfire and roasting some meal he clearly did not intend to eat himself.

"I apologize", the young woman sat up with a blush, "For my weakness. I did not mean to hold you back."

"I have not forgotten you", Oboro glowered at her from behind the fire with his usual focus, "And I have not forgotten what you and your friend did for me all those years ago."

"I don't understand", Anita replied, her own memories of that dark time failing her.

"There was a time when darkness ruled my heart", the samurai continued, "I was not the man I should have been; Hannya was my lord, and Bishamon was my name. Under the blood curse, I was a monster, and I wounded many lives; even the life of the woman I loved most. It was not until I tried to wound your life that a man appeared to, at last, give me the strength I needed to break the curse."

"Donovan…", Anita whispered as the memory dawned on her, "He was a great man. Before I met him, I was empty inside; dead with my mother. He gave me back the will to live, and then he gave me a second chance to live that life."

Oboro nodded, "It is the noblest of men that bear the heaviest burdens. I fear the dhamphir has at last succumbed to the darkness in his own heart, as I did long ago. Ironically, it was at this same instant that Hannya revived without an owner for the very first time. I swore I would destroy them both."

Anita looked askance, tears welling up in her eyes as the man she spoke to had given a voice to her deepest fears, "Do you think… he could be saved?"

Oboro was unchanging, unflinching, in his reply, "A man can only be saved by his own hand. Donovan has chosen his path, and now it leads swiftly to a dead end."

Anita nodded, wiping away the tears as she stood with conviction in her eyes, "Then we mustn't delay. The time has come to face our demons."

Rising to his feet, the immortal warrior walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, "He will live on through you, his greatest accomplishment."

Anita made no reply; she simply smiled.

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Shattering through a large glass window, Victor and Bulleta rolled onto the street of the little town in a grapple. To the golem's great surprise, she was strong enough to hold her own.

Managing to uppercut her opponent in the jaw with a sharp knee, the darkhunter subsequently dropped him with a diving trip and dashed back to pull out her uzi for a killing shot.

Standing slowly, Victor seemingly ignored the shot to the head aside from a couple of sparks ricocheting with the bullet, and advanced forward through the gauntlet of bullets that followed, snatching the girl's weapon as he was upon her and tossing it to the wind as he raised his own sparking fist to attack, "I see you like causing pain. I don't, so I'll end this quickly."

"The hell you will!", Bulleta shrieked as she pulled a weapon resembling a taser from her basket and stuck it into his chest, rolling away with a smirk as he crumpled over, "Reverse charge; gets 'em every time!"

Pulling the device and crumpling it in his hands as he stood, the badly sparking creature glowered to her with something incomprehensible flashing in those dead eyes, "I will not die. Not until Emily lives again."

"Great; he's tough…", the impertinent youth muttered as she backed away, but stopped and smiled as a plan occurred to her, "Ok big guy, you win. I'm clearly no match for your strength, and to be blunt, I'm trapped here the same as you are. Why don't we team up and see if we can find a way out?"

"Why should I?", Victor bellowed, "You tried to kill me."

"I try to kill a lot of things", Bulleta returned with a flippant gesture, "Don't take it so personally."

Victor puzzled this over for a moment, then nodded, "I'm going to see the voice; he will tell me how to put Emily back together."

"Works for me", Bulleta shrugged, putting her hands in her pockets and following him down the street. Of course, she didn't tell him about the second reverse taser she was charging in her pocket as they went.

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As Felicia limped over to the girl on the other side of the alley from her, she found herself overcome with pity. It was as if the roles were reversed now; she was the big sister, and she had found a little version of herself that needed help.

"It's going to be alright", the diva smiled warmly as she took the little girl into her arms, "We'll find your home together, and everything will work out."

"My home", the girl sighed happily, laying against her new friend, "Yes. Let's go home."

Rising from the pile of trash below her, the youth helped Felicia to her feet with more strength than her little body seemed capable of mustering. Together, they began their journey through the maze of dim-lit alleys, each helping the other along. And all the while they talked of home.

As they came upon a brief clearing in the form of a larger street, the girl pointed to an open door across the way with a golden light shining inside.

"There!", she screamed excitedly, "That's the way home! Let's hurry!"

With all the conviction of someone who knows they're doing the right thing, Felicia struggled back to her feet and started toward the door with the girl in tow. Her only focus was on that door and where it lead to.

Home.

It was not until a voice in the darkness called her name that she stopped, inches from her intended destination. Turning to glance at the sheer familiarity of it, she found herself gazing at a mangy blue werewolf if tattered violet trousers. The thing was half-dead, and it was only the memory of a man in the eyes that gave any credence to the flashbacks stirred by the voice.

"Felicia", the beast called again, "Don't do it. If you go back now, you're lost forever, and so am I."

"You horrible monster!", the girl shrieked, "You can't keep her from her dreams any longer; she wants to go home! Can't you see that?!"

"Then come home with me", the wolf called to his mate, his form becoming a bit more stoic in keeping with his tone.

"…Jon?", Felicia mewed, her eyes bleary with tears as she collapsed to her knees.

Looking frantically to the wolf, then to her friend in disbelief, the girl ran screaming down a different direction, vanishing in a flash of golden light.

Even as Felicia fell to the strain of her own memories, her Jon was there to catch her. He cradled her close, "You're home; you don't have to live a lie any longer."

"A profound display from a man who has spent a lifetime living in deceit", a woman's voice called from the fog, the silhouette of that mint-haired woman there to haunt him once again, "Profound, if hypocritical."

"What do you want from me?!", Talbain snapped, keeping the body of his woman close in a defensive embrace.

"What do you want?", the woman retorted as she stepped forward in her full leather corset, a cynical smile pasted across her otherwise flawless face as she assumed an impatient stance.

"No more riddles", Talbain growled, "I haven't the sanity left to reason…"

"Poor hybrid!", Morrigan mocked him with a laugh, "Always getting around to the facts but never quite getting there. It's time to ask yourself; do you really want to know, or are you just as happy living in the shadow of your destiny?"

"What does it matter?!", the beast roared, "Even if I did want to know, I wouldn't know where to start looking!"

"It matters everything!", she shouted back with the rare flash of anger in her eyes, "If I offered you a chance to learn, would you take it? Would you follow me to the truth?"

Jon glowered at her for a long moment before nodding "Yes."

"Then get off your tail", Morrigan ordered as she turned her back to him.

"What's in it for you?", Talbain called after her as he struggled to stand, Felicia in his arms.

To this, Morrigan closed her eyes, a tear streaking down her face for the first time she could remember, "I'm going there myself. I dare not go alone."

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Proceeded by a shrill cackle, Zabel skittered on his hands and knees across a metal beam high above the sea of dolls below. But this time the laugh was not his own; it belonged to the muted gray Marionette stalking just behind, a bloody knife in one hand.

"Stop running, Zabel", the distorted voice cooed from her body, "It's so much easier if you just surrender."

His face a mixture of panic and disgust, Zabel leaked a strange black ichor over his forearm, solidifying into a roaring chainsaw blade as he stood to parry the immediate charge of his opponent and met her frenzied eyes with a rare look of focus, "I'm not a puppet, Mary. Not Ozomu's, and not HIS."

"Lord Jedah is not like Ozomu", Marionette offered with a patronizing smile, "He has your best interests at heart. He wants to help you."

"There's only one man alive that knows what's good for me, and yer lookin' at him!", Zabel hissed as he thrust his attacker back across the beam and turned away, "And by the way, when did you become such a fanatic?"

"Jedah Dohma opened my eyes", Marionette responded as she staggered to her feet with one hand raised, a mass of wires descending silently from the darkness above to snare Zabel in a grapple before he knew what hit him. Striding over, the deadly puppet cupped Zabel's skeletal jaw in her hands and smiled at him with a kinder expression than he'd ever seen on that stern face, "He'll open your eyes too Zabel."

As the wires parted just enough to expose the double crescent tattoo on his chest, the source of all his power, Zabel felt a chill run down his spine. Could this Jedah really make a pawn of him? No! He would have preferred death to servitude, and as Marionette raised her knife with a shine in the darkness to seal his fate, the renegade ghoul took one last stab at his freedom.

Using the same power he had back then, back when he chose this path, Zabel called to his body the power of the wasted souls being devoured all around him, his body taking on an infernal glow that burned like white hot fire in his eye sockets. With a roar resembling the cry of a velociraptor, he thrust his now tremendously exaggerated saw blade up through the wire and batted the twisted visage of an old friend away into the darkness before running. Running for his very existence.

As he sprinted away to nowhere, Zabel felt himself gripped with a sickening pain. He thought his heart had broken at seeing his proud friend enslaved like that, and dismissed it as such without realizing that the tattoo on his chest had indeed been slashed in the skirmish, the crimson red slowly fading to black.

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Demitri staggered aimlessly through a volcanic wasteland in his repressed, man-like form, barely dodging as a geyser of molten lava spewed up from the earth to make an attempt on his life. The merger between Makai and this brave new world had not injured him, but he was surprisingly disoriented. It was as if a "will" was pressing down on his chest, and every breath was an effort.

"It is not unlike the battle with Kreutz", he murmured to himself as he clutched at his neckerchief, ripping it off as if it were the thing choking him. Of course, the Kreutz he spoke of was not the pathetic wyrm that he had dispatched in his preciously guarded tower, but his right hand Baraba the Wolf Lord.

That battle had been legendary; he could never forget. They had been evenly matched then, and as he had traded blow for epic blow against the flashing red warrior, he had felt the thrill of the hunt for the very first time. The same thrill he had felt as he tested the strength of the overlord Pyron, waiting until the perfect moment to strike.

But now that warrior was a part of him forever, and he would be challenged no more.

With this sudden realization, the tyrant collapsed in a kneel of despair. At that moment, the great, dark clouds above shattered like glass, a dark red void just beyond raining blood down all around him.

Lifting his head at this, Demitri felt the oppression coalesce outside him for the first time. Amidst the crimson rain, something was beginning to form. Tall and dark, the figure glowered down at him with those moon-colored eyes as it gripped a great, serrated scythe in its hands.

"You", Demitri hissed, "You belong to the land of the dead now. An appropriate fate, as you no longer concern the affairs of My empire."

"It was by the blood you spilt that I was revived", the figure retorted from above in a matter-of-fact tone as his bladed wings glided him toward the fallen demon, "And I am most justifiably concerned with what you have done with your empire. You have become a cancer upon it.. And now, there are no more battles left to fight. The time has come to surrender."

Demitri stood in a defiant laugh to this, "Mine is the true will of Makai, for I am its destined ruler. Spare me your naïvity, Lord Dohma, and do what you came here to do."

The figure closed his eyes, his soft blonde hair waving across his saddened face as he raised his scythe. With that, a tremendous aura of dark force began to shred the world around him into naught but extensions of the great void above, "I see that words alone cannot reach you. So be it. Your soul will now be ripped from your stagnant corpse and reconstructed as something more useful…"


	6. Illusions

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Six: Illusions

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

"This could get ugly", Quatos muttered as the cloud of bees continued to grow and grow overhead. Glancing to his fallen friend, still at the mercy of the infernal buzzing in his sensitive ears, he knew he would have to go this one alone. Bracing his bulky body for the oncoming assault, he prepared for the worst.

But, to his horror, the insectoid leader directed her chariot, not toward the only standing challenge as expected, but right for the cringing merman behind him! As Aulbath was lost amidst the droning pitch, Quatos knew he had to think of a plan and quick. It was just then that he remembered the spring, and his jowls lifted in a clever smile.

The curtain of P-Bees parting for her, Q-Bee lifted the nearly comatose body of Aulbath into her arms and gazed into his eyes longingly; if only he had been able, her prey might have cringed at the cruel intent behind that stare.

"LET HIM GO", a voice roared amidst the howl of a sudden, fierce wind. Reacting instinctively to this sudden stimulation, Q-Bee dropped her meal to throw her arms up in a block against the hurricane force wind that railed her, servants and all, into a nearby cliff face. At the eye of the storm, a veil of sleet obscuring his massive silhouette, was Quatos.

"I won't let you kill him", the yeti growled, "It's not his time to die."

Her bees quickly forming a windbreak for her, many losing their lives in the attempt, Q-Bee stood against the wind, a curious smile crossing her face as she buzzed a reply, "Hunger and death; this is nature. I am hungry, so he must die."

"_Not yet, my busy little bee",_ a voice laid over her mind like silk, _"This one is still blooming. Wait for the pollen to capture the flower at its best."_

"I understand", the bee queen smiled to herself, "Returning immediately then." Then, with no more warning than she'd arrived, she dashed backwards, up, and away into the sky.

The winds around him slowing to a light gale, Quatos strode over to his companion and lifted him up, a distraught look crossing his face as he realized the merman had yet to recover.

* * *

"Alba…?", the merman heard his own voice echo as he wandered through the darkness, "Alba, where are you?!"

Just ahead, Aulbath saw a blue-white light resembling a doorway, and standing therein, the shapes of his wife and son, just as he last remembered them, "…Aqueria?"

"Come home, my love", the mermaid whispered from where she stood, "Come back to me."

"I'm coming!", Aulbath cried into the darkness as he sprinted towards the mirage, "Wait for me! I'm coming home!"

* * *

As Quatos sat down to rest at last by the fire he'd manage to build from the golden trees nearby, it occurred to him how absurd it was to have conjured a fire this big "underwater".

Laying nearby, Aulbath began to stir in his sleep, clutching at his throat as if something was choking the life out of him.

"Hold on, old friend", the sasquatch sighed as he pressed a warm cloth to the merman's head, "You didn't make it all this way to quit now…"

* * *

It just wasn't fair. The thought kept crossing Anita's mind as she felt that presence getting nearer every minute. Why did he have to do it? Why _him_.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she had to focus long enough to crawl over a large log barring her path; the same log that the ethereal warrior just ahead had conveniently walked through.

Oboro looked back from behind one of the countless dead trees composing the foggy marble marsh in which they'd found themselves, leaning on his staff for balance as he had always done, "Are you sure you can do this?"

Picking herself up, the girl narrowed her bright blue eyes at him and nodded, "I'm sure."

"_The fools become more foolish_", a distorted voice cackled from everywhere at once, putting the pair on guard as they stood back to back in the center of the bog.

"Show yourself, demon!", Oboro demanded, eyes glancing warily from tree to tree.

"_Have I not already?"_,the voice continued with a chuckle as a red-armored wraith stepped from behind a tree, sword drawn, to give the voice a face, _"Are we not so comfortable with each other?"_

Eyes focused only on his target, time stopped for Oboro as he gripped his staff and moved into that same, flawless stance, _"We are not."_

"Then come, foolish warrior", the hateful visage called as he mimicked the stance, "Come, let us finish this."

"Anita, this is my fight alone", Oboro shouted back at his ally as he kept his focus on the object of all that remained dark in his heart.

With a hint of rebuke in her eyes, the woman took a stance by his side, "We face our demons together."

"_You should not have come…"_, a fourth voice called from the darkness, freezing Anita in her tracks. With that, the visage she dreaded most walked out from the shade of a large willow tree, altered by time into something more horrible than she had ever imagined, _"I did not want your death."_

* * *

A couple most odd found its way into the Oriental dreamscape laid out before them; a great port city seemingly composed of shimmering golden buildings, randomly placed canals resembling the structure of Venice for all the world, and cherry blossom trees that were more common than grass.

One half of this couple skipped merrily ahead, ignoring the majority of the "people" who served as a window dressing of sorts for the vista, her bright red hood bouncing with the rest of her.

"Come on, you slowpoke!", she whistled back at the other half, a great blue-skinned man lumbering behind with Harry barking at his heels, "We'll never make it at this rate!"

Thankfully for her, Victor's cautious pace had allowed him to see something his companion didn't, and he dived forward with a grunt just in time to knock her out of the way of an enormous, spinning shuriken with blades like short swords and into a nearby cart of tomatoes.

Skidding briefly along the brick road, the thing ricocheted back up into the hands of its wielder, who herself was standing atop one of the many rooftops. Tilting her head to the side just enough to let the charm in front of her face fall to the side, Lei-Lei glowered down at the pair with a smirk, "Pretty clutzy for having a chi that strong. I guess you're all brawn."

"And who the hell are you?!", Bulleta demanded as she got up from the wreckage of the cart and shook her fist at the unexpected attacker.

"Another prisoner in this devil's world", the girl responded coldly, "And I'll do whatever it takes to get home, even if that means I have to "unite" your souls with the voice that brought me here."

"She hears the voice too?", Victor remarked to himself with a thoughtful expression, but he wouldn't have time to draw any conclusions as Bulleta returned the favor, yanking him out of the way of a sudden, incoming barrage of bladed projectiles from above.

"This bitch is asking for it", Bulleta snarled as she crouched behind the corner of a building, uzi loaded and in hand. Victor merely grunted as he crouched behind her, nearly three times her size.

"That's called camping, you know", the girl's voice called from behind them, proceeded by another rain of spikes that sent them running down an alleyway.

An idea occurring to him at last, Victor stopped in mid-run and turned to face the girl, taking the beating of the blades against his tough hide in stride, "Wait."

"What are you doing?!", Bulleta screamed from behind a conveniently placed barrel.

"I hear it too", Victor continued, walking forward at the ghostly darkhunter stanced just ahead, "I'm going to see the voice. To fix Emily."

Offering his large gloved hand to what should have been his enemy, the giant approximated a smile, "Let's not fight. Let's go together."

Confused by this sudden parlay, Lei-Lei studied her opponent cautiously, but her features softened as she saw the simple, sincere look in his eyes, and she nodded, "I'm sorry if I was a bit hasty."

"I'm not!", Bulleta snickered as she jumped up from behind to jam her reverse taser right into the back of Victor's spine, the great golem's eyes going whiter than before as he collapsed with a thud across the road, a look of shock pasted permanently across his dead face.

"Why?!", the kuang-shi screamed at her from across Victor's fallen form, "I thought he was your friend!"

"He was my quarry", Bulleta smiled, "And now he's a paycheck. Thanks for your help; I couldn't have done it without you!"

Her face tensing with rage, Lei-Lei batted the girl hard enough across the face with her claw weapon to send her careening into a nearby wall as a reply, placing a foot on the fallen warrior's chest as if to draw a line, "Take him if you can."

"Just great", Bulleta whined as she surveyed the focused fanatic standing between her and her prize, "I guess I didn't think this one through. Well, she who fights and runs away…"

"_You don't have to run",_ a voice called to her from somewhere inside her mind.

"Who's there?!", Bulleta fired a warning shot as she looked around warily.

"_You could defeat them all with ease"_, the voice continued, _"If only you had a little more power."_

"Oh, you're a ton of help!", Bulleta scowled, "And where should I get this power?!"

"_All you have to do is let me in. I'll grant you my power as a down payment."_

Glancing once more to the fierce look in her opponent's eyes, Bulleta gulped and nodded, "Okay, you've got a deal; just hurry up already!"

As if to accommodate that last request, a terrible blackness exploded forth from the fiendish youth at that moment, burying the world around in a blanket of black and white. Standing at the center, a muted gray, the hunter opened her empty eyes and smiled that vicious smile.

* * *

Whatever Jon Talbain had expected when his enigmatic guide offered him the truth, it was nothing like what lay before him. Supported only by the foundation of a barren landmass inexplicably anchored in place amidst the endless sunset stretched out before him was a spacious mansion composed entirely of stained glass mirrors.

Each mirror was different, that much he had guessed at a glance-over, and the panels of each wall appeared to correspond to the continuity of a stand-alone "story".

"The truth?", the werewolf inquired to the woman beside him, his tone laced with skepticism.

"This place is many things", Morrigan returned as she stared toward the sole doorway, "Depending on who the viewer happens to be. Shall we?"

Setting the still unconscious Felicia behind the safe cover of a group of large boulders, Talbain strode past his tormentor toward the doorway as a response.

"Headlong toward the truth at last", she mused to herself as she followed.

* * *

The sunlight filtering in all around, bathing the long marble floors that composed the only break between the panes of glass in a rainbow of hues, the mansion was a beautiful, if disorienting, sight from the inside. But Talbain had not come here seeking beauty, and he rushed headlong down corridor after corridor toward a familiar scent he couldn't quite place.

It was _him_. The source of his curse, and the answer to all the questions he had never dared to ask. As a glass hallway ended in the mouth of a cave-like stone archway just ahead, the werewolf felt his nerve faltering. Somewhere in there, _he was waiting._

"You can't go back", he attempted to reason with himself, "The answers are all waiting just beyond that gate, but if you go now, you can never go back."

"So what I do? Do I stay… or do I go?"

Looking back one last time in the direction of Felicia's scent, the wolf's ears flattened pathetically before it took off running into the cave with a resounding howl.

* * *

Leaving the rash young half-blood to his searching, Morrigan decided to do a bit of her own, and strode warily down a separate corridor, a similar recognition gripping at her from a different source. Window after window, she felt the thing take form; it was as if a part of her was calling from the darkness..

A part of her she had almost forgotten.

Pane after pane, she hurried her pace, her eyes darting all around at a smoky substance roiling up just behind the barriers. The windows told a story that she had played out in her dreams for as long as she could remember. The man in the shadows, eyes ablaze, a servant at his side. The infant on the altar; she knew that child! The man reached down, his face full of regret, and the child became as the sun, a brilliant white light that dimmed as one became two.

_Two_.

What did it mean?! As the heiress studied the last pane to feature the child as it had been, noting every detail the way she never had been able to in her visions, she drew back, eyes wide with shock. The child's eyes were hers! _She_ had been the one, and all this time, she had lived in the shadow of her true self.

_Just like Gallon._

The smoke rising into the silhouette of a young girl behind the final pane of her own story, Morrigan readied herself for anything. The halves had found each other at last.

* * *

Zabel staggered in a strange dance across a barren brown field, muttering to himself as he occasionally cursed the clouds above for being too gray. Gray like him, more and more.

"Never never never", he rasped to nobody as he rested back against a large needlestone that hadn't been there moments before, "I'll never let 'em keep me down."

"I'm Lord Raptor!", he screamed as he lay against the stone bearing his own name in an almost drunken stupor, "I take orders from nobody!"

"_You took them from me", _a voice gurgled as a large, blue-black silhouette rose up from behind, eyes ablaze with the most menacing green flame.

Throwing himself off the stone with visible effort and spinning on a heel, the shaken corpse did his best to regain his composure with a nervous grin, "Ya look like hell boss."

"_But I feel so much better"_, the gargantuan shadow acknowledged as it loomed closer and closer, _"You'll understand when it happens to you; there are no words to explain it."_

"It ain't gonna happen.", Zabel sneered, "Not to me. I make my own rules."

"_And how do you propose to fight it?",_ the thing taunted, _"Whether you wish to believe it or not, you were created for but one purpose. You are an assassin, my wayward apprentice; a killer, and you kill to achieve goals far greater than yourself, leaving the machinations to the powers that be."_

"Powers like you?", Zabel shot back, "Don't make me puke. If Jedah hadn't killed you first, I'd have done it myself, and then I'd be the Master. Now there's just him and me."

"_The Makai has always had a heart",_ the Shadow explained, _"Consider the following; if you really did kill that heart, you'd be doomed to take its place. Think of the responsibility you'd have as the Lord of the Dead! That unwavering duty, weighing you down for all eternity. You'd have more freedom as a pawn."_

Zabel had no reply to this; it was an angle he had yet to consider. The mere thought of being shackled to a job like that made him cringe, and yet, there was still a way out!

"Fine then", the arrogant apprentice shrugged, "So I don't kill Jedah. Why should I serve him?"

"_Because it is what you want to do", _the voice of the dead Master cut into him, _"Deep down, you want to do what drives you. You want to kill. So kill for Jedah, and when he builds his perfect world, you will be a part of it. You will live to kill again."_

"Live to kill again…", Zabel echoed as he slumped to the ground in a heap, his eyes glazing over with the visions flashing through his mind. The momentary lapse in focus was all the tattered barrier of his will needed to spring a leak and let the darkness in.

The power! He could feel it rippling through his undead flesh, even now. The souls of countless dead warriors bestowing their vigor upon his faded soul, his muscles twitching and tensing with a new will. As he stood again, a muted gray, his maniacal cackle was never so clear.

* * *

Striding from the darkness, Q-Bee found herself in a bizarre room resembling the womb of some impossibly proportioned creature as blacks gave way to reds.

In the center, a thing easily the size of a house was attached to an umbilical chord, down which a series of white sparks continually trailed. The entity was clearly some monstrous infant, and an eye opened at the bottom of its foot to glance at her as the man responsible for its creation turned to greet her in response.

"Well done, my obedient servant", Jedah smiled warmly as he reached out to stroke the side of her face with one hand, provoking a happy buzz in response. As he looked to a bleach skull in the other hand, its elongated fangs the only thing left to mark its original owner, he nodded thoughtfully.

"The players are falling into place, my Shintai", he called to the thing above him, "Just as predicted. It won't be long now."


	7. Travailing Oblivion

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Seven: Travailing Oblivion

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

"Wait for me!", Aulbath cried happily as he ran headlong into the darkness, the light beyond his only beacon to grasp at the unknown, "Wait for me! I'm coming home!"

Their son clinging to her leg, Aqueria opened her arms with a warm smile, "We've been waiting for you all this time. We'll always be here, my love."

Taking her into his arms, the merman thought he had found home, but as he looked into the eyes of his beloved, he suddenly started back. Something was missing!

"What troubles you, dear heart?", Aqueria frowned as she reached for him again.

Pushing her away, a panicked Aulbath continued to retreat, "Stay away from me imposter!"

Her loving smile returning, Aqueria stopped where she stood before speaking with an understanding tone, "My poor husband. You've been in the darkness so long that your mind has been affected. How could I be anyone else? I'll never forget the day we met… how strong you were when you promised to rebuild our proud race. I believed in that moment that you could do anything, and I always have."

Aulbath dropped his guard, head lowered in shame as he started forward again, "Forgive me, my love."

Holding him close against her, his wife softly stroked the fin on his back, "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I'll always trust-"

At that moment, her speech was cut to the quick by a lightning fast claw strike from "her" husband. Dropping the fading remnant, Aulbath glared at the darkness above and cried out, "My blood is the blood of Atlantis! I am not so easily deceived!"

* * *

Opening his eyes, Aulbath looked up to see Quatos, just now reaching over to press another damp cloth to his forehead.

Seeing his friend awake, Quatos started back in surprise for a moment, then grinned widely with his massive teeth, "Scales! Man, you had me worried! I thought for sure you were about to cross the barrier after all!"

Sitting up, Aulbath smiled that canny smile of his as he rubbed his arms for warmth, "If I did that, who would keep you out of trouble?"

At that, the two old friends shared a long laugh.

* * *

Amidst the nigh-constant clang of sword and staff as the demon and the samurai began their epic showdown in earnest, Anita found herself staring down her own greatest demon. A specter of the past that she had hoped lived only in her nightmares in spite of always knowing the truth.

It still looked like her friend, at least superficially, but the visage was twisted with dark intent, the skin a faded gray and the eyes a burning, blood red. Large bat wings unfurled from the back, and the forearms trailed into cruelly sharpened claws.

A tear running down the side of her face, Anita wanted to feel sorry for him, but there was no pity left. In this moment, he was the enemy. The thing that had killed Donovan. She would do as back then and disconnect so she could fulfill the task that needed to be done.

"You've failed after all", she said coldly, a dark aura beginning to enshroud her form.

His eyes flashing with malice, the thing struck out in a rage with his claw, the girl nimbly dodging with a sharp elbow to the back of his neck that sent him careening into the marsh.

Landing atop a log, Anita closed her eyes, sensing for his presence. Leaping away just in time to avoid the beast leaping up from under the log, she extended her index finger toward him as she hovered above and fired a bolt of absolute will into his heart, forcing the thing to crumple over as she landed nearby.

Watching as the tortured beast began to claw its way over, screaming in pain and rage, the young mage reached down to grip his face in her hands. As a brilliant white light began to envelop the world around her, she did her best to retain that cold glare, _"Goodbye."_

* * *

Scrambling behind a building as a barrage of bullets, rockets, and other indistinguishable projectiles flurried through the street where she had just been, Lei-Lei caught her breath, "This is madness!"

Madness most certainly described the destructive juggernaut stalking down the street, her face pulled back in a demonic smile as the shredded away at the world around with her aura alone.

"Come out, come out, whereeeever you are…", the evil child sung as she stopped in the middle of the street, looking around for her prey.

Shouting the last word of a carefully muttered chi spell, Lei-Lei leapt from a rooftop and let her have it. The spikes, ascending from below the street, caught Bulleta by surprise as they threw her up into her opponent's waiting diving claw attack, which in turn batted her back into the street several meters away.

Carefully approaching the thing lying facedown on the ground, Lei-Lei kept her guard up. Standing right before it, she spit to the side with a look of disdain before turning to leave, "Treacherous snake…"

However, the teenage ghost froze in place as she felt the distinct edge of a knife at her throat, and shuddered at the voice whispering in her ear, _"You don't know the half of it."_

Vanishing in a puff of smoke, Lei-Lei reappeared facing Bulleta a mere three feet away, her handy ghost hop being her only trump card at this point, and backed away, "You monster…"

As Bulleta moved to pursue, she would get a surprise of her own as two big, blue arms grappled her from behind. Looking up to see a badly damaged Victor, the darkhunter was stunned, "Why won't you stay dead?!"

"I am dying, thanks to you", Victor acknowledged grimly as a spark trailed from the side of his face, "But Emily and I are linked at the soul. The energy I lose to your machine, I will give to her. I will give her my life. But before I do, I will make it my last act to stop you from causing any more pain."

* * *

Talbain found himself wandering through a bleak cityscape full of faded people. With every face lost in the darkness among the back alleys and side streets, he flashed back on his wasted life, seeing more and more of himself in the people around him.

He had failed. Everything was lost to him now. A chase for the truth had led him to the saddest realization of all. The only truth was that he was an empty shell of something he might have been.

Finally, defeated, he collapsed against a dumpster with a clang, ready to resign himself to the same fate as all of them. At that moment, a voice growled at him from the darkness of the alley beyond.

"You look pathetic hunched over like some common hobo. Have some pride!"

"You hide in the shadows", the wolf scoffed, "Don't call me pathetic."

At this, the figure behind the voice strode into view. It was a werewolf with flashing red fur and a deep hellfire burning in his eyes. "There. Now you see me."

The son of Kreutz was unimpressed, "I always thought you'd be taller."

"No doubt", the Wolf Lord sneered, "You've made me some monstrous thing in your dreams. An impossible standard to which you hold yourself while ignoring who you really are."

"So I can reason?", Talbain rebuked, "That's the only thing that makes me a man instead of just another weapon."

Charging forward with a snarl, Kreutz pinned his son against a wall and looked him square in the eyes, "You see? Your appearance mirrors your mind! Cut off your trifle perplexity and adherence to humanity!"

* * *

Every muscle tense with anticipation, coupled with a cold terror she could barely comprehend, Morrigan stood transfixed before the only barrier between herself and her past. And then, the barrier shattered in a shower of rainbow shards, an empty, howling wind whistling outward from the void beyond in the form of a preteen girl who might have been her at a younger age if not for her short, lavender hair.

"You and me; we belong together…", the girl smiled with the strangest mix of joy and regret.

"We can't go back", Morrigan shook her head as she backed away, an icy white pallor coming over her perfect skin, "I am me. I always have been. Why should I want to be someone else?"

"We're both you", the girl acknowledged as she started forward toward her goal.

"It's not true", the heiress said bitterly, "It's not true because Father took you away. To protect me!"

"To hold you back!", her soul sister hissed with tear-rimmed eyes.

"He'd never do anything to hurt me! How dare you say that!", Morrigan shrieked, tears of her own staining her cheeks as she conjured and hurled a Soul Fist at the girl on instinct, her passion clouding her judgment enough that it missed completely and went shattering through the glass.

Having anticipated the attack and rolled aside, Lilith threw a copy of the attack resembling green hearts more than golden bats right back, her counterpart barely having the strength to bat the thing away, shattering the mirrors around them even further.

"You have to listen to me!", Lilith cried out, her little face twisting with the anger that follows when one realizes fully they have been rejected, "I'll make you listen!"

Dashing forward with a raptorial screech, Morrigan's eyes were focused only on the thing she would have to eliminate to regain her father's honor. For things to go back like they were.

She was in no mood for words.

* * *

Awakening from a visionary trance, Jedah opened his eyes with a saddened expression coming over his countenance, "Bulleta has fallen."

"It is no matter, my Master", Marionette offered cheerfully, "We have a more powerful weapon now. One that their petty rebellion has no chance to stand against."

With that, she motioned to another figure clawing and biting madly from where he was chained in the darkness. Upon closer inspection, the thing was all that remained of Zabel Zarock.

"Very well then", Jedah acknowledged with a firm nod, "Go out, you two, and end this."

As the demented puppet led her ghoulish protégé away on his chain into the darkness, the Archlord placed his hands on Q-Bee's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Go with them, my favored servant. They may need your guidance to ensure the success of the mission."

"Of course, Milord", Q-Bee buzzed happily, "I would do anything for the support of the hive."

As she flew away, blissfully preoccupied with the how to his why, the Dark Lord of Dohma felt a sudden despair grip him from somewhere deep inside. Until now, _just now_, he had only thought of her as a good, obedient servant. Useful at the moment, but soon to be absorbed into all that his quest represented. But, as he was often wont to do, he had come to an epiphany.

She would do anything for him, anything at all, because it was _him_ that asked. The insight required for his destined task required that emotions be neglected for the greater good, but he had to admit to a certain flattery at the soul bee's devotion. Perhaps something more. Something intangible.

Looking up in response to a faint flash emitting from somewhere in the infant-like entity above him, Jedah could not a repress a somewhat whimsical smile, "Of course I can. For the New Makai to become a reality, sacrifices must be made…"


	8. Shintai Reborn

-1DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Eight: Shintai Reborn

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

As Quatos stretched his arms with a roaring yawn, he noticed his fish-like friend staring intently into the distance, "What is it, Scales…?"

The merman did not move from his alert stance, "Something's coming."

The fur on the back of his neck suddenly bristling, Quatos stood at attention as well, "I feel it! What a horrible lifeforce! So empty, and…"

At that moment, the "sky" above shattered, leaving only a red void beyond.

ENTER LINE BREAK

The chill marsh was alive with the sounds of battle, every clang of metal like a call in the wild. Two warriors, their epic struggle having carried through the centuries, would fight their final battle this day.

"It all began on that day", Oboro shouted as he moved to parry another slash with his staff, pressing in to force the advantage, "I can be released from you at last!"

"Fool!", the Hannya rumbled, jumping back and charging again, "This is only the beginning! I shall devour all the souls in this pathetic world!"

"Monster! I cannot let you do that", the samurai called as he dashed aside, knowing all too well how the armor's anger clouded the mind, and using its lapse in judgment as an opportunity to place a final, telling blow through the center of the backplate and out the chest, the demon armor falling in pieces as its inhabiting spirit cried out in the terror of absolution, "It is over. Until my life ends, this mistake cannot be repeated."

Anita was silent and cold as she stood over the withered gray corpse of an old friend, "To what end is victory achieved. I feel… only emptiness."

Looking to the sky beyond as it began to chip away into vivid flashes of red, his expression was grim, "And yet, I fear that the day of rest may never come. So long as men hold evil in their hearts, the darkness will always return in a new and more dreadful _Hannya_."

ENTER LINE BREAK

Bulleta struggled fiercely in the grapple, but her captor held her fast. Looking up at those determined, dying eyes, the hunter wanted to scream at the terror of finally being the helpless animal caught in a trap, but her training sustained her, and she held a mute front.

"Finish it now!", the golem rasped, his shoulders heavy.

Nodding firmly, Lei-Lei pulled back with her claw, and thrust forward, impaling them both where they stood. Her eyes locking with the evil youth, she gave her a final, heated glare, "You are, without a doubt, the darkest-hearted human I've ever met, but you're still a human. You can die."

Blood spilling over her lips, Bulleta slumped forward with a groan, her once again rosy skin turning white with the pallor of death.

Turning her eyes from the fallen fiend, Lei-Lei's face softened with regret as she looked to Victor, his massive form lying back against the ground, stiff and still.

"I'll find a way to revive you", she assured him as she bit her lip, "Don't give up hope."

"I haven't", Victor smiled that thoughtful smile as he closed his eyes one last time, "It will make me happy knowing Emily… is… _alive_."

As bittersweet tears welled up in her eyes, Lei-Lei suddenly looked up to a voice calling from the roof.

"_Another sacrifice for the New Makai."_

Standing there was Marionette, looking as passionately distant as ever, with Q-Bee buzzing just behind, and a ghoulish entity she could scarcely recognize at her heels.

That thing. She had met it before, but it was a person then. What had they done to him?

As Lei-Lei reeled from the shock of the encounter, Zabel bit and clawed wildly at the air in her direction. Noticing his eagerness, Marionette drew her lips up in a cruel smile, "Of course, dear Zabel. Have at her!"

His chain released, the undying beast leapt forward with a screeching cry, arms stretched outward to tackle what might have been unwary prey if she had not gathered her wits at the last moment and batted him aside with her claws.

Quickly shrugging off the blow, the ghoulish attack dog rose to his feet and charged again, this time unleashing a deadly combo that began with a bladed spin kick, narrowly ducked, followed by a knife-finger slap to the forehead as his prey was rising to counter, and ending with a sharp elbow to the nose.

Literally spinning from the force of the blow, Lei-Lei was in a whole new world of pain, but kept herself together as she rolled on one knee and countered with a rising claw uppercut, pressing through by extending the chain on the claw to knock the thing across the street and finally get some distance, "Back off!"

Completely oblivious, the mad Zabel simply leapt underground like a shark to water, rising up from below in a cloud of dust that created just enough cover to let him catch her in a firm grapple with his long arms and legs.

Crying out as she felt his cold, sharp teeth sink into her collarbone, Lei-Lei's eyes widened as something snapped in her mind. It was all clear to her now. The past. Mother. Everything.

Even this lowly ghoul that had once been almost respectable. She knew what she had to do. Reaching up with her one free arm, she slapped the thing hard across the face, _"And here I thought you were at least a brave man."_

Zabel stopped, eyes wide and shaking as the memories came flooding back on his end as well. He was brave! He could be. He would be againHis legs lowering to stand on his own two feet, he did not release with his arms, but this time they held her in a firm embrace.

Returning the gesture, Lei-Lei closed her eyes and smiled, "You're still a noisy fool."

"_Cold as ice, baby", _her companion whispered with an ornery grin.

"That little wretch!", Marionette fumed as she took a fighting stance, "I won't let her ruin him!"

"_There is no time for that"_, a voice called inside her mind, seemingly heard by Q-Bee as well, _"Prepare yourselves. The final battle begins now."_

With that, the sky cracked open, a great red void awaiting the two unlikely allies embracing below.

ENTER LINE BREAK

The sound of two monstrous howls was the only sound preceding a sudden barrage of dust and debris into the old, abandoned parking lot, leaving a gaping hole behind as the two lycanthropes entered with a rolling grapple, each determined to force the other into a submissive hold.

"Give it up, boy!", Baraba Kreutz barked through gritted teeth as he briefly occupied the bottom half of the struggle before reversing the hold, "You will never win with so much confusion in your heart!"

"I don't need a lecture from the likes of you!", Talbain growled back as he kneed his father off and leapt to his feet in a stance, "I am what I choose to be!"

"You are an illusion!", the hardened old wolf roared as he leapt forward to knock the young punk off his feet and follow with a sharp swipe to the face.

Eyes flashing a violent gold as his vision clouded over with blood, the young wolf let out a tremendous howl as he forced himself up with a second wind and returned the favor, sending his opponent sliding back against the ground with a thoroughly slashed snout.

Rising into a stance, the old wolf laughed heartily, "There! You're at your best when you're acting on your instincts. Learn to trust them, or I'll kill you where you stand!"

"And kill the man inside me?", Talbain shouted back as he felt that blood-burning rage struggling for control deep inside him.

"You still don't get it", Kreutz muttered with a hint of sadness as he placed his hands into an arcane gesture, an incredible amount of dark force beginning to focus into a flashing fire at the palms, "You've tied my hands boy. If you don't wake up, this next attack will finish you. This is the final technique of House Kreutz, the Bullet of Makai. Beware the DRAGON CANNON!"

As the fire shot forward in a snake-like blast towards him, Talbain saw his life flash before his eyes. The long hours of intense training. That night with the mysterious, mint-haired woman. _Felicia._ And there he drew the line. She had loved him, just as he was, and wanted nothing in return but for him to live!

To live as the man he wanted to be.

Charging forward, a ki-born delay masking his every movement, the wolf and man known as Jon Talbain let out a distinctly human cry as his body was enshrouded in a red comet. Emerging unhindered on the other side of the great, fiery thing that had been sent to claim him, he swung at the stunned nobleman in a hard right hook, sending him sprawling onto his back.

Turning away, Gallon the son of Kreutz left his father with these words, "I am Jon Talbain, and I choose to live. As a wolf. As a man. As one with myself."

As the enlightened youth ran headlong toward the red void just ahead, Kreutz wiped the blood from his chin and smiled in spite of himself, "Perhaps you can."

ENTER LINE BREAK

Blast after blast, the mirrors shattered, until only a field of flying colors surrounded the two sisters as they fought to the death in the labyrinth they had created with their own minds.

Rejected. Lilith had expected the truth to be hard for her other half to face, but this was the outcome she had feared the most. And fear turned to hate. She hated her sister for hating her! Rolling behind another mirror, she threw a blast of soul energy around the corner with a scream.

Morrigan felt only anger in this moment. Unreasonable, blinding anger at this thorn in her identity and all that it meant to her. If this girl was as she claimed, then her father had been wrong all this time. Her father couldn't be wrong! He had always ruled the Makai single-handedly with his pride and power!

And yet, he had died. Like a mortal, he had died, leaving her to…

A sudden gripping at her throat, followed by the painful sting of her scalp being shattered through a mirror, brought the heiress to her senses. Choking in the grip of the deadly girl, she did her best to pry the little hands off her, but they held fast, and she could see a golden light shining from them both.

"You'll see!", Lilith wept bitterly, "I'll make you whole, and then you'll have no choice but to accept me!"

"No! No, never!", Morrigan shrieked as if the thing were killing her. It might as well, if she couldn't be herself anymore! To be anything else was too terrible to imagine. It was against everything she knew. The haste of the moment, and the terror of losing her identity, goaded a literal explosion of soul energy from somewhere inside her, the white-hot blast cascading outward like a bomb in all directions.

As the deadly light faded, the succubus pulled herself to her feet, looking over at a cringing figure lying facedown amidst the glass. The little thing was crumpled and defeated, and in a way, she had to feel sorry for it.

"_I… I only wanted a body to live in", _the girl sobbed as she began to fade from this world.

"You want this body, don't you?", Morrigan sighed, knowing now that the choice was not hers alone. This girl, whatever she was, had a right to live. The same right as her. And without her, this girl would die.

Striding forward, Morrigan took her other half into her arms and held her close, "You need me. Alright then, come inside me…"

The golden light returning, both of the female forms became enveloped in a shower of sparks as their bodies joined as one, Morrigan barely having time to cry out as the fusion completed, "…NOW!"

Standing somewhat haphazardly, Morrigan looked down at herself in surprise. She was still her! But she felt so wonderful! Like she could do anything…

She would have to. Just beyond, a red void was waiting, and a battle along with it. On one side was a merman, a sasquatch, an old man, a young woman with the strangest lifeforce, a kuang-shi, a ghoul, and the son of Kreutz. On the other was Jedah, surrounded by his "children".


	9. Jedah's Damnation

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Nine: Jedah's Damnation

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

Eight. Including herself, only eight of the countless souls she had felt drawn to this place yet stood. As she surveyed the bleak, yet determined expressions on the warriors beside her, a mixture of pity and disgust rose up in Morrigan's heart. Makai was dying; of that there was no doubt.

And yet, as her gaze fell to that strange girl with the old man, she knew there was hope.

Meanwhile, Talbain's blood-rimmed eyes darted around frantically from comrade to comrade, the definition of the term at this point being "untainted by the scent of the voice". Noticing two familiar faces, he barked toward Aulbath and Quatos, "Any sign of Felicia?"

"Your cat-girl?", Quatos looked up with a weary attempt at a smile, "Haven't seen hide nor hair."

"She is no longer with us", Aulbath offered grimly as he looked to the darkness ahead.

"How can you be sure?!", Talbain snarled as he nearly leapt upon the merman in a panic.

Aulbath looked away, more solemn than before, "Her lifeforce has joined with that of the voice in darkness. Just like my Alba. I can feel them somewhere in there. The only way to release them now is the death of that monster."

"Then we'll just have to beat him, now won't we?", Lei-Lei quipped nearby with a smirk, arms crossed with impatience at all the pre-battle blues.

"You can't", the ghoul crouched behind her cringed as he looked over his grayed claws in despair, "Even if the Savior is killed, he will return again and again until his mission is completed."

With a scoff, Lei-Lei glared bitterly at the "four horsemen" waiting just ahead, "We'll never know until we try."

And striding out of the darkness they came. The puppet. The shadow. The good little insect. And before them all, the Savior, his moon-colored eyes trained on the group as a whole and yet focused on the "human" woman that had the most powerful soul of them all as he spoke.

"I was reborn to save all of the souls in this demon world.", he said flatly as his pawns stood behind him like disciples, "The time has come. Rejoice, and join with me."

"Like hell we will!", Lei-Lei spit defiantly in his direction, "You're not a savior. Just another tyrant trying to conquer the world. You'll fall like all the rest, so let's get this over with!"

"Like hell…", Jedah echoed the phrase with amusement as he pointed a long, slender finger at the rebel, a strange sense of sadistic pleasure coming over him as he watched her face contort with confusion at the ground before her sinking into a pool of blood that gripped her fast and swallowed her up, a muffled scream being the last trace of her left in this world.

His red coal eyes staring longingly to the place where Lei-Lei had just been, Zabel felt a panic grip him deep inside as the significance of the event registered in his disjointed mind. Leaping into the pool after her with a scream, it appeared he had shared the same fate as his beloved darkhunter.

"_Eternal darkness is the poet's dilemma", _Jedah cackled with a flippant gesture of his hand, but his laugh was cut short by the hum of a chainsaw twisting its way up through the floor not far from where the pool was quickly closing behind its prisoners, followed immediately by Zabel bursting out from below, an unconscious Lei-Lei in his free arm, and rolling to safety on 'solid ground' with a gasping pant.

Twirling his scythe in one hand, the dark savior strode toward the couple with an annoyed sigh, "You refuse to go quietly…"

"They refuse to go at all!", Talbain snarled violently as he dashed in front to cut off the demon's access to his prey, those orange eyes promising a quick death if he should take another step forward, "And so do I."

Raising his scythe as a violent ultimatum, the savior was knocked aside by a sudden flash of gold. Looking toward the source, Talbain narrowed his eyes at that mint-haired witch again.

"You were expecting your father?", Morrigan whispered in his ear as she walked behind him.

Talbain kept his eyes on the enemy, just now rising to his feet, "I don't need his help, and I don't want yours."

"Now's our chance, Furry One!", Aulbath cried excitedly as he drew his hands up, wringing free a great wave of blood from the ground to send crashing over the enemy.

"Gotcha!", Quatos followed through, freezing the savior in a block of red ice with a great, whistling breath.

"Now, to finish the demon!", Oboro called as he drew Kien with noble intent for the first time, but Anita placed a hand on his shoulder.

As the samurai looked back in confusion, the girl shook her head, "Do not rush to a martyr's death."

"I already have", he glared as he wrenched his shoulder free and charged forward with a warrior's cry.

"This is the moment of truth", he thought to himself as his sword shone bright with the crimson light, "When a man must prove his honor!"

But, as his katana struck true, finding its home in the heart of thing now encased by the red ice, Oboro stopped short, eyes wide with that same, cold fear he had felt when the Hannya first took hold. The devil's eyes were open! They saw right through him, as evidenced by that vindictive smile! It _knew_ what lurked inside his faltering heart!

"Well done!", Aulbath smiled as he placed a hand on the samurai's shoulder, but drew back in terror at the look on his face. It was wide-eyed, pale-skinned, and dead from the inside out. The look of a shell whose soul no longer wants for this world.

As Oboro's form began to convulse, something dark and winged bursting from beneath, the bloody iceberg just ahead shattered into a grenade of frigid shrapnel that impaled the surprised merman and sasquatch again and again, until they knelt at last in death's cold embrace.

Amidst the chaos, a white glow emitting from within due to the purity of the souls he had just consumed, Jedah smiled softly, extending an open hand to the group of survivors beyond, _"Time is running out."_

Gliding forward on the air by the power of her mind alone, Anita's eyes flared to life with the same violet power that haloed her form, "Then let it end with you."

Jedah smiled in response to this as he took his scythe in both hands and charge with a slash to oblige her, "Mother Gaia, always looking out for your children. But I must do the same, and there can be only one perfect world!"

Narrowly dodging, Anita telekinetically flung the self-proclaimed Savior onto his back with an outstretched arm, then sent him careening right toward his precious Shintai with another flick of her wrist, "Twitter, twitter. Pretty words."

* * *

"Bastard!", Talbain roared at the figure ahead as he saw his allies fall in spite of their bravery, and readied a last, gallant charge to finish this or die trying.

"The Master would strike you dead, and then you would just be another part of the New Makai", Marionette called with a smirk as she walked over, "Why not just give in and be an enlightened servant? At least then you could keep your identity."

Whirling around, the wolf belted her into a nearby wall of flesh with his claw and snarled, "Without my pride, I have no identity!"

* * *

"Magnificient", Q-Bee licked her lips as the Master went to work harvesting souls in ways she had only dreamed of. With Jedah as king, her hive would grow and grow. _Forever._

Her thoughts were interrupted as a golden flash forced her to leap upwards in evasion. Looking down with an angry buzz, she saw the sardonic face of that Aensland bitch smiling up at her.

"Did you come to watch or fight, little bee?", she heard the pampered heiress quip. Even now, at the moment of her Master's triumph, there were those who stood in the way of progress. Those who were a hindrance to the hive had to be removed!

Readying her deadly stinger, the matriarch of the soul bees dived in from above for a lightning fast attack!

* * *

Eyes opening, Lei-Lei at once revolted at the sickening smell of blood on her body, but came to her senses as she looked to Zabel watching the battle ahead and realized what had happened.

"You're not so bad after all", she smiled as she stood beside him.

"_Of course he is"_, a distorted voice gurgled as Shadow rose from the ground before them, forcing the pair on guard, _"He is a killer. A machine programmed to destroy. He has not the luxury of deciding whether he will be good or bad, and murders because it is all he knows to do."_

"Best watch your mouth then", Zabel hissed with a hot glare up at his former master, "Or I'll kill you next!"

"No", Lei-Lei stepped in front, "I will. To prove you don't have to."

* * *

With effort, Jedah shook the field of foreign energy from his body and stood, a murderous look in his eyes. He had _struggled_ against this one! Her identity was all too clear to him now, and the strange parallel she presented was more insulting than losing control of his limbs, however temporarily.

Drawing upon the wisdom bestowed by the souls he had consumed, the savior conjured a terrible plan and began to stride forward, scythe dragging the ground with an unearthly screech, "It makes no difference how powerful you are. The strong are devoured first to lay the foundation for something stronger."

"Your conviction makes you weak", Anita rebuked with a glare, her words like acid.

"As does your emotion", Jedah returned, dragging the scythe blade in a line before him to create a bloody rift, from which a humanoid form began to rise, one eye dark and the other a fiery gold as the crimson fluid began to drain away, revealing the naked form that once belonged to a noble damphir hunter.

"Donovan?", Anita called as she struggled in vain to keep the tears from welling up, "It can't be…"

As the thing before her sputtered and collapsed in on itself, Anita had guessed the ruse, but she was too late. Her momentary lapse in focus was all the time the Heart of Makai needed to finish her. In a heartbeat, he rose behind her in a puddle of blood, and in another, impaled her through the back with his deadly scythe, her screams ringing out as she faded into the blade.

With a disheartened sigh, Jedah looked to the souls around him, each engaged in a "final" battle to the death, and recalled a time gone by, during the War of the Gate, when he first realized why this grim task had been left to him.

* * *

At well over 6,000 years old, Jedah was still the youngest of the three Archlords of Makai. His youth, combined with his passion for life, had always been the source of condescension from his fellows, the mighty Belial and the savvy Galnan.

With Galnan dead, his poisonous theories no longer infecting Belial at every court meeting, the young noble believed he might, at last, seek Aensland's ear and relate the terrors only he could see coming.

Striding up the winding, stone stairs of the great old tower that served as the seat of the court, Jedah passed effortlessly through a stained glass mirror that doubled as a door to the balcony beyond, standing beside a tall, statuesque figure meshed in blacks and reds, his form ambiguous, yet feral as he silently observed the chaos unfolding below.

"They fight only to give themselves to a darkness beyond their comprehension", the Lord of Dohma lamented as he watched life after life taken in the bloody war below.

"This is true", Belial acknowledged, "It is also the will of Makai."

"Makai is dying!", Jedah cried as he gestured to what, to him, was plain for all to see.

Belial merely chuckled to this, "You are too young to know this, but this was all predestined by the First Lifeform. As the world shatters under the weight of its own dust, it is reborn again, fresh and new. This is the point which the universe revolves around."

Jedah said nothing. He would have been ignored if he had. Belial's "order" was an abomination, a backsliding obstacle to the progression of Makai, and in time, it would destroy them all.

Unless someone could find a way to end the bloodshed, once and for all.

* * *

Opening his eyes, Jedah saw only more bloodshed. The bastard son of Kreutz tearing away at one of his obedient servants. Belial's heir toying with another. Those who wished to understand being held back by those who did not.

"It is said, that all life began with one life form", he called out as he vanished, appearing beside a pair of ornate, double doors only he could see and throwing them open, "To correct the errors of this world, I shall go back…"

As the perilous light of truth beyond filtered in, burning away at the illusion that was his Majigen and forcing the worthy souls to look up from their battles in confusion, Jedah smiled to them with conviction, "It's time to save the world! Time to recreate life!!!"


	10. Unworthy

DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Chapter Ten: Unworthy

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

Those few strong souls who yet occupied the Fetus of God looked up as a great, white blankness came whistling from the golden double doors to nowhere, burning and shredding at everything it touched.

"Chaos ends unto itself", Jedah smiled with the most benevolent of intentions, "And a new order begins."

Throwing her arms up in a defensive gesture over her face, Morrigan was in disbelief at what she saw stirring within the chamber. The eyes of the Shintai were opening!

"What have you done…?", she muttered breathily, eyes wide.

* * *

Tossing aside the burnt wire remnants that had been his opponent, Talbain barely had time to look up as the light came round, tearing the world to dust in an instant.

And yet he remained. His higher functions had somehow sustained themselves, and he felt no different than before. Only the world around was changed. All was white. All was still.

All was cold.

Rising to his feet from a defensive kneel, he noticed how icy the floor was on his bare feet. Looking to his hands, they were hands! In the absurdly glistening floor, he could make out the shadow of a man.

"Why am I human again…?", he pondered aloud.

"In this place, our appearance mirrors our intent", a deep, richly drawn out voice called from an elevated, cliff-like surface. Looking to the source, Talbain saw his father standing there, arms crossed like some great hero overseeing the world.

"What do you want now?", the estranged warrior returned bitterly.

"As before, I want you to be at peace with yourself", Kreutz explained with a heaviness in his eyes, motioning with his claws to a howling wind just beyond, "But there is more to the equation than just you now, isn't there? Can you smell her in the distance?"

His form immediately shifting to that of the werewolf as his muscles twitched into an alert stance, Talbain peered keenly into the snowy darkness, "Felicia…"

"Go to her!", Baraba barked, "Go now or she'll be forever lost."

Without a second thought, the younger wolf began to charge that way, but stopped, suddenly, and looked back, "Why do you care?"

"I lost my mate because I wasn't there for her", the elder wolf lamented as he turned away, his words almost a howl, "Don't let my mistake become yours."

Nodding slowly, a hint of sympathy in his golden eyes, Talbain ran howling into the night. His only goal now was to get to _her_. The woman that would make sense of this nightmare and bring him softly back to sanity, wherever that might be.

As he followed the scent into a cavern he might not have found with his eyes in the now unrelenting blizzard, he wondered if she had sought shelter from the cold, but suspected something much worse.

With his luck, he was right. Racing down the steep, rocky terrain to a pathetic mew, he found her. Clinging, just barely, to life as she hung suspended in a column of crimson mist was his Felicia. With a leap of faith, he clutched her body in his arms and landed on his back to break her fall.

Slowly opening her eyes, Felicia half-smiled, "What took you so long?"

"I had to ask for directions", the wolf man replied with a wry grin.

* * *

Even in their last moments, Lei-Lei and Zabel fought together against the seemingly indomitable Shadow. If they were going to die, they would go out fighting.

For her part, Lei-Lei had given up on trying to stop the ghoul from attacking every time she let her guard down. This was his battle, after all, and she had to respect his dedication to the ideal of being a free man.

Zabel had to admit he was impressed with the new abilities the old boss had gained since becoming this freak, but he would be damned if that stopped him from proving once and for all that he was his own master. Dodging to and fro as the monster followed suit, vanishing in puffs of smoke only to appear before him at the most difficult angles, the undead assassin was doing well to stay on his toes.

But Shadow wasn't entirely focused on his target either. That strange woman in whose company Lord Raptor had found himself somehow learned of his vulnerability to sound, and was ready to bang her infernal gong every time he left himself open, provoking a near-hit from Raptor in turn.

The former Emperor knew that the only chance he'd have to win this battle lay with dispatching her. Anticipating his apprentice as usual, he began to direct his jaunts to guide the ghoul back toward his ally, and then, at the moment when the battle would have slammed headlong into her, reached out his deadly claw to strike her down with a soul-numbing cold.

Unfortunately, Zabel had anticipated him as well. No sooner than he had seen the flash of that claw, the skeletal rogue dashed into place to deflect the attack, and found himself slashed through the chest. His animating tattoo torn in two, he fell from the Master's hand in a lifeless heap.

"Zabel!", Lei-Lei screamed as she scooped up the corpse in her arms, keeping it guarded from the specter just above, "Zabel, you didn't have to do that…"

"Join him in death", Shadow taunted, chuckling at the poor joke he had just made, and thrust his arm out to slash the girl in two. But, to his great surprise, the attack simply passed through, provoking no more than a heated glare from her. What was this?!

"He didn't have to do that", Lei-Lei repeated, laying the body of her fallen friend on the ground as she stood, "Because you can't hurt me. I have no life to take."

Placing a white-haloed hand on his shoulder, the darkhunter gripped tightly as Shadow began to scream in pain, "But you do. You've given yourself to the darkness, and it has consumed you. Now, be consumed by the light, and fade away forever!"

As Shadow reared back with a roaring cry, bursting into a flash of harmless light, Lin-Lin appeared behind her sister, placing an arm on her shoulder with a smile, "Mother would be proud."

Lei-Lei smiled back with a twinkle in her eye, "Yeah."

"What about this one?", Lin-Lin called as she motioned to Zabel's body, whose lack of animation looked more absurd than the ravages of the grave.

Striding over, Lei-Lei knelt down and leaned over the body, staring into those dead eyes for a long moment before leaning in to kiss where his lips might have been. As the two of them were enveloped in white, the ghoul's fingers began to twitch.

Lin-Lin nodded with a knowing smile to her sister as she stood, and the two of them walked into the light with peace, ready for whatever lay ahead.

His eyes opening, Zabel reached up, running a hand over his teeth. He could almost hear her voice in his mind, like a soothing chime,

"_It's never over Zabel. This life is endless. Keep moving on."_

* * *

Morrigan felt her heart race like never before as she locked eyes with the darkness and contemplated how to fight it. She couldn't imagine that Jedah, knowing all too well what horrors laid behind the forbidden gates, would ever conceive of opening them.

"Why?", she demanded as she clenched her fists at her sides, "Why are you doing this!?"

"Makai is dying", Jedah said flatly, "The world is drowning in blood. The only way to break this cycle is to remake it."

"And what about us?", Morrigan glowered accusingly, "What about the people who want to live? Why should we forfeit our existence to suit your plan?"

At this, the savior laughed, "All things die in time. The question is whether or not they will be reborn. Thanks to my efforts, Makai has been insured. Accept my mercy with gratitude!"

This laugh would be his last. As he felt a horrible pain in his chest, Jedah looked down with wide eyes to see a delicate little hand thrust out through his heart from behind. Blood beginning to pour over his lips and down his collar, the nobleman turned as he fell in a kneel.

Tossing the blood from her fingers, Q-Bee glowered down at him with her great, amethyst eyes.

"Why have you interfered with me?", Jedah gasped, trying in vain to hold in the souls spilling from the rift inside him.

Q-Bee's face was a cold mask, "I hear a voice saying generate and prosper."

As the strain of the rebelling souls began to tear him apart, the dying Lord of Dohma cursed his good servant through gritted teeth, "You are just an insect at heart! You could never understand me!"

"Not as well as I had hoped", Q-Bee retorted to the fading remnant. As the color returned to her little body, she felt a horrible emptiness well up inside. She had trusted him. Believed in him. And he was going to sacrifice her.

But her error would be reprised. Dashing toward the doors and gripping one in each hand, she looked back to Morrigan, "For the hive to grow, sacrifices must be made."

Thinking only of the billions of soul bees depending on her at this moment, the noble insect queen threw herself into oblivion, slamming the doors shut behind her.

Morrigan stared at the doors for a long moment as the world around her shifted into a series of gateways to many others. In each gate, she could see the released souls reforming. Achieving their individual destinies. All but the one who had to sacrifice her identity to fulfill her purpose.

"Your proud death will not have been in vain", the heiress vowed as she flew toward her gate, the gate to Castle Aensland, "I am ready to accept my destiny too. Makai must have its heart."


	11. Epilogue

-1DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE SAVIOR

Epilogue

Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue

(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)

As she neared the gate to her own destiny, Morrigan's curiosity got the better of her, and she turned back to view the many gates networked around her like a hive of mirrors.

"Each gate is a possible future", she mused to herself, "But the most likely appear to glow the most brightly. I wonder; what lies in store for those many, noble souls…"

ENTER LINE BREAK

As he swam through the current with all his might, only one thought drove the mind of a former emperor and proud father, "Alba, be safe. Father is coming to rescue you!"

Aulbath had scarcely realized that a great whirlpool had opened before him, let alone the fact that he was conscious at all, before he found himself leaping into it. Somehow, he could feel the presence of his son in the dark waters beyond, and he knew they led home.

Calling endlessly through the great open sea, the merman's heart leapt when he was answered at last by the familiar voice of his offspring.

"Dad!"

"Alba, are you alright?"

However, as Alba's father hovered over the sea cave the boy had taken refuge in, he realized his son was not alone, "Who's that girl…?"

"Her name is Micky", Alba smiled cheerfully at the fuscia-scaled mermaid clinging to his side, "We're best friends."

But there was no time for introductions. As a sudden quake rippled through the water, Aulbath instinctively took the youngsters into his arms and swam high, which also served to give him a better view of the situation.

He could not have been prepared for what awaited him. Surrounded by a golden halo was an entire city of sunken ships and seaweed, but what was most peculiar was the inhabitants. They were not unlike himself, a fish-scaled people with lighted antennae that, now that he thought about it, resembled those of the girl he carried.

"Oh, look! There is my home!", Micky interjected, affirming his suspicion.

As the hero of the deep touched down on the deck of the ship, he was greeted by a blue-scaled merman of this sister race.

"Welcome to Sargasso", the man called as Micky jumped down from Aulbath's embrace and ran over to hug him, "I thank you for returning my daughter safely."

"What has happened here?", Aulbath replied, looking around with wide-eyed wonder, "In all my travels through the area, I have never seen this place."

"For the longest time", the local explained, "We lived behind a great barrier. We believed it to be the work of an angry sea god. But now, it seems, that barrier has fallen. I assume we have you to thank for that. How might we repay you?"

Aulbath simply smiled over to Alba and Mickey playing tag on the stern, "I have a wife to the west of here. She deserves better than a life of endless wandering, and my son should have friends to nurture him as he grows…"

The merman smiled, extending a hand, "Then welcome home."

ENTER LINE BREAK

Striding through a war-torn cityscape, Bulleta had never been so angry. The humiliation being outsmarted by that big, ugly… thing!

As she came upon two neko-jinn siblings crouched in an alley at play, the darkhunter pulled a rocket launcher from her picnic basket, her round face twisting into a horrible, hateful smile, "Lucky! I was just looking for something to annihilate."

Just then, a sudden blast of kinetic energy knocked the hooded hellion off her feet, bringing her crashing onto her backside with an umph. Looking up, she groaned at the sight of a young woman with pigtails in a red dress standing between her and the young darkstalkers she had targeted as easy prey.

"You can try."

ENTER LINE BREAK

"Lei-Lei, remind me, why do we have to go so far out of the way?", a young girl a cap and camping gear whined as she brushed aside one of the many tree limbs around.

"There's this place, just ahead, where a samurai's ghost lives!", her sister called back excitedly as she trudged ahead.

As the two of them entered a meadow shrine, Lei-Lei ran up and flung herself to the ground in front of a great obelisk with a charm etched into it, "I'm here to pray for you, just like I promised!"

"This is ridiculous", Lin-Lin sighed, wishing they could just go back home where a nice dinner was sure to be awaiting them by this time of evening.

Her cynicism was cut short, along with any manner of sound from her throat, as a pale, glowing hand rested on her shoulder. She silently gasped as she looked up to see a man wearing a bronze shade and blue and white robes smiling down at her.

"_Perhaps you just need to have a little more faith."_

Nodding with a gulp, Lin-Lin ran over to join her sister in prayer. Smiling after them, Oboro thought back to a time, years ago, when they themselves had been ghosts.

ENTER LINE BREAK

From the depths of a great, ornate coffin in Zeltzereich, a cry of terror rang out. Bolting upright in a fit of tremors, Demitri seized a loyal servant and sank his fangs into her throat.

As the woman drew nearer to death in his embrace, the vampiric nobleman wiped his lips and stared listlessly at the black flame candles sparking to life and lighting the room for him, "_Morrigan…_"

Jedah was gone. He could feel it somehow. But _she_ remained. One last demon to taunt his tortured mind. One last obstacle in his quest for greatness.

But he would not simply destroy her. That would be a waste. By birthright, the daughter of Belial deserved nothing more than to rule at his side. To be his.

For eternity.

ENTER LINE BREAK

Somewhere in the ruins of the Mayan empire, a power beyond mortal comprehension lay dormant in darkness. Inactive since the death of their creator.

Years later, a brave little boy named Cecil had wandered off in search of adventure. What he had found was the tomb of his ancestors.

"It's huge!", he cried out as he stared at the great pyramid before him.

Venturing in through a fissure in the walls, the urchin found himself tumbling through a mess of dust and debris until, at last, he landed on the hard stone floor with a thud and blacked out.

Coming to his senses with a cough some time later, the boy looked around, his wide eyes adjusting to the dim light filtering in from somewhere above. There were shapes all around. They were like big metal men. Maybe statues?

Striding over to one of them, he looked up with a quizzical brow. Was this what his great-grandfathers used to scare bad little boys into behaving?

"It doesn't look that scary to me", he muttered, kicking the thing.

As he turned to walk away, he froze in his tracks as a great, heaving buzz brought reality as he knew it to a standstill. Turning around slowly, almost too afraid to look, Cecil found himself face to face with two large, red eyes and a mechanical, humming voice.

"_**My Master. Orders please."**_

ENTER LINE BREAK

At the end of every great adventure, the hero beats the bad guy and gets the girl. That's how it works in the movies anyway. But the life of Jon Talbain had never been an epic; only a tragedy.

He could still see her leaving.

"I'm sorry, Jon. This is something I have to do. I'm not a kid anymore, and if I want to see the world get better, I'll have to find the cure myself since nobody else is looking."

He didn't even look at her as she stood in the doorway, dressed in a damn habit and off to do God's work while he rotted in Hell.

"Then that's all there is to it", was his single, distanced reply.

"Hey, Talbain!", a gruff voice mercifully interrupted, and the wolf in man's clothing lifted his hard hat to see the red face of the foreman, "Lunch is over buddy. Let's get back to work, eh?"

"Yeah, sure thing", Talbain muttered, following the man back to onto what was left of London bridge; ironically destroyed during that self-righteous demon's attempt to cram the universe a little closer together. But that's why he got into construction in the first place; no matter where he went, no matter how much his own life fell apart, this war-torn world would always need guys like him to clean up the mess.

The son of a great demon warrior and masterful warrior in his own right couldn't help a cynical smile as he climbed into his bulldozer and lost himself among the mindless clearing of rubble. At least he had job security.

ENTER LINE BREAK

The Forest of Souls sparked to lie in an instant, as if a great wave of soul energy had erupted from the epicenter of the Soul Bee society. And at ground zero, a clutch of bees sprung to life, crying out with more vigor than expected of even newborns.

"Look!", one of the P-Bee caretakers buzzed as she flitted to a brightly glowing infant that laid, in turn, at the center of the nest, "This one is different."

"Powerful", her fellow nodded as she sensed the soul energy radiating from within, "Surely the most suitable for a new Q-Bee."

At this, the newborn chittered with laughter. She knew her destiny all too well.

ENTER LINE BREAK

Quatos sat up in the snow with a bit of a grunt and a bit of a groan.

"My aching skull… Hey! Where's Scales?"

"He went home", a large voice boomed, and Quatos looked up to see a giant whale floating in a sea of slushy water nearby, "We should go home too."

"When we're having so much fun?", Quatos grinned, jumping onto the whale's back, "No way! Come on, old friend. Let's ride forward, not back. Onward to adventure!"

"Sounds like fun", the great Makai whale drawled, and the two of them plodded out into a beautiful sunset as they talked about the many places they might wash up.

ENTER LINE BREAK

The thundering lament of a pipe organ in play rushed through the halls of an abandoned laboratory in the German Alps. At the organ itself, the doll of a young girl sat playing with a feverish intensity.

"Why, little brother", she thought to herself, "Why couldn't you live too?"

Looking back at the still, cold body of Victor Von Gerdenheim lying in a coffin at the back of the room, the girl narrowed her eyes with grin determination, wishing she could cry like any other girl.

"I won't let it end this way. I'll find a way to give you back what you gave me."

ENTER LINE BREAK

Somewhere below the unhallowed halls of Castle Dohma, in a crawling place where the light refuses to shine, an old wooden box waited in a dampening cellar.

Bursting in through a rusty door, a skeletal figure lanked down the stairs with a wire-frame that was once a partner in hand. Placing it in the box, Zabel smiled whimsically as it began to reform as the wooden effigy of a beautiful woman in a maple-colored dress.

"Rest now", he cooed, "Ya've 'ad a lung day love."

Setting the long-broken old lid against the upright crate, the rogue ghoul took an old piece of parchment out of his pocket, striking an ill-lit match to read it in the darkness.

"Voshtal", he read with a perverted grin, "Knowledge is Power."

"_An' I love power."_

ENTER LINE BREAK

Shaking her head with a cynical smile at that last notion, Morrigan swept herself skyward with a beat of her wings and sailed toward the door uniquely hers.

Toward a destiny she had dreaded until this very moment.


End file.
